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Biological treatment of a distillery waste

page 520

Biological Treatment of a
Distillery Waste
CARL E. BURKHEAD, Assistant Professor
Civil Engineering Department
University of Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky
CLAUDE A. LESSIG, JR., Vice President
G. Reynolds Watkins Consulting Engineers, Inc.
Lexington, Kentucky
TED R. RICHARDSON, Director of Research
AER-O-FLO Corporation
Florence, Kentucky
INTRODUCTION
Barton Distilling Company, Bardstown, Kentucky, processes approximately
5,500 bushels of grain per day, 10 months out of a year. This operation results
in the production of a liquid waste in such quantity and strength that some form of
waste treatment must be provided as directed by the Kentucky Water Pollution
Control Commission. The Commission's basic standard for the Barton operation
is an effluent quality of 20-30 mg/1 BOD.
Numerous types of secondary treatment processes are available which can
produce the above quality effluent. The most common process is some form of
biological treatment. A literature search was made to determine the information
available on biological treatment of distillery wastes.
Distillery waste treatment by biological means has in general offered no
problem to the waste disposal engineer. However, application has primarily
centered around two basic biological processes, 1) the trickling filter and 2) anaerobic digestion. References to either of these two means of treatment are common in sanitary engineering literature. Nemerow (1) has surveyed the distillery
literature up to about 1960 and reports the successful removal of BOD using trickling filters and anaerobic digesters.
Reports on biological treatment of distillery wastes since 1960 have been
very limited. Ghose and co-workers (2,3) studied the activities of enriched
methane cultures and sulfide producers in laboratory fermentation studies. Srini-
vasan (4) reported on the use of oxidation ponds as a distillery treatment process.
It is interesting that mention in the literature of distillery waste treatment by
other common types of biological processes is virtually negligible in spite of the
application of these treatment methods to other fermentation-type wastes. Eckenfelder and Bueltman (5) reported the successful application of the activated
sludge process to brewery wastes as did McKinney (6) to an antibiotic waste problem. Tooloose et al (7) reported favorably on efforts to polish fermentation
wastes from activated sludge and trickling filters in an oxidation pond. Similar
studies on nondistillery fermentation wastes in anaerobic lagoons were reported by
Howe, Miller and Etzel (8).
- 520 -

Biological Treatment of a
Distillery Waste
CARL E. BURKHEAD, Assistant Professor
Civil Engineering Department
University of Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky
CLAUDE A. LESSIG, JR., Vice President
G. Reynolds Watkins Consulting Engineers, Inc.
Lexington, Kentucky
TED R. RICHARDSON, Director of Research
AER-O-FLO Corporation
Florence, Kentucky
INTRODUCTION
Barton Distilling Company, Bardstown, Kentucky, processes approximately
5,500 bushels of grain per day, 10 months out of a year. This operation results
in the production of a liquid waste in such quantity and strength that some form of
waste treatment must be provided as directed by the Kentucky Water Pollution
Control Commission. The Commission's basic standard for the Barton operation
is an effluent quality of 20-30 mg/1 BOD.
Numerous types of secondary treatment processes are available which can
produce the above quality effluent. The most common process is some form of
biological treatment. A literature search was made to determine the information
available on biological treatment of distillery wastes.
Distillery waste treatment by biological means has in general offered no
problem to the waste disposal engineer. However, application has primarily
centered around two basic biological processes, 1) the trickling filter and 2) anaerobic digestion. References to either of these two means of treatment are common in sanitary engineering literature. Nemerow (1) has surveyed the distillery
literature up to about 1960 and reports the successful removal of BOD using trickling filters and anaerobic digesters.
Reports on biological treatment of distillery wastes since 1960 have been
very limited. Ghose and co-workers (2,3) studied the activities of enriched
methane cultures and sulfide producers in laboratory fermentation studies. Srini-
vasan (4) reported on the use of oxidation ponds as a distillery treatment process.
It is interesting that mention in the literature of distillery waste treatment by
other common types of biological processes is virtually negligible in spite of the
application of these treatment methods to other fermentation-type wastes. Eckenfelder and Bueltman (5) reported the successful application of the activated
sludge process to brewery wastes as did McKinney (6) to an antibiotic waste problem. Tooloose et al (7) reported favorably on efforts to polish fermentation
wastes from activated sludge and trickling filters in an oxidation pond. Similar
studies on nondistillery fermentation wastes in anaerobic lagoons were reported by
Howe, Miller and Etzel (8).
- 520 -